


Greyskin

by SnappySprinkleDog



Series: Selkie verse and AU's [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Animal Traits, Child Abuse, Child Soldiers, Eventual Happy Ending, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Kinda, Miscommunication, Selkie AU, Selkie Cor Leonis, Selkies, Slow Burn, Torture, Unreliable Narrator, as in the other member of the couple doesnt turn up till a good load of chapters in, cor being continuously sad, its weird, more character are involved just will be tagged when they arrive, sorta - Freeform, threat of underage sexual assault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:27:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnappySprinkleDog/pseuds/SnappySprinkleDog
Summary: Selkie AU"Some day, when all this is done, I will make you believe you were worth it."Cor was only a child when he was stolen from his home by the King of Lucis to be twisted into his personal weapon.He never had a choice in any of thisOr, Mors decides he wants a pet selkie for a killing machine and Cor suffers for the next 20ish years





	1. Beginnings

Cor had not wanted to be Mors wife. He had not wanted to be any human's wife.

  
Yet that is what he became when Mors took his pelt.

  
Cor had not been reckless in a manner he would have recognised, he had not come up on shore alone, casting off his pelt to doze in the sun, his mama had taught him better than to do that. In fact, he had only come onto land at night to dance and play under the full moon with his family, where the elder selkies would stand watch, ready to bark a warning to get back to the sea.

  
But Cor did not know of all the ways a human could steal his pelt, and neither did his mother, so he had thought nothing of swimming out alone to the shallows along the beach and rock pools in search of fish at dusk, and despite his mama scolding him whenever he did, she hadn’t ever been truly worried other than by the closeness to humans.

So, he hadn't panicked initially, except from the shock of it, when a heavy net landed on him, trapping him in the shallows. Instead he assumed it to be the work of blind fishermen mistaking a young seal for a large fish. 

Of course he had fought the net, biting and mauling the arm of one of the men who got too close, lurching to get back out to sea, but it hadn't been till he was pinned against the dark rocks, an old man with eyes like ice staring down at him knowingly, knife wielded by his undamaged arm, that he had actually felt fear. When the man began cutting, skinning Cor alive, not even acting surprised when Cor’s screeches became more and more like that of an 11 year old boy than a seal’s, Cor was in too much agony and far too terrified to truly process what was being done to him.

  
It was only when the man wielded his pelt aloft, staring down at Cor's shivering, bloody, and naked form, that Cor knew. He didn't have to explain, they both understood, even if the men in black uniforms around them didn’t. The fear that had burned in Cor became very cold.

  
“A blanket, we can't have you catching a chill now, can we?” 

  
With that Mors (though Cor wouldn't learn his name till later that night) had turned and walked away, iron grip on the pelt that Cor yearned to grab, throw on, and run for the sea. 

But he couldn't. 

  
So instead, Cor to shook his way unsteadily to his feet, unpracticed legs currently useless on land without the added boost gifted by a full moon. One of the men surrounding him threw a ‘blanket’ made of soft wool, at him, the man sighed and tucked it around Cor’s shoulders after he stood looking confused at the fabric. This action should have made Cor snarl and bite, but his head still pounded with the events that had just come to pass and he did nothing, simply clutching the material close, before attempting to trail after the man who was now his husband.

  
It wasn't until Cor fell for a 5th time, knees hitting painfully on hard rock, that his husband had paused to look back at him.

  
"Sophus" he said, Nodding at a man who had been following him closely, then looking back down at Cor.

  
The man he nodded at, a large unyielding beast of a man, strolled over to Cor, moving to pick him up before jerking back quickly now Cor had enough sense in his head to bite. These men, other than his husband, he had no obligation, nor magical curse, to not hurt them. 

  
He would not let them touch him.

  
Or at least that's how he felt before the man he just tried to bite brought a heavy hand down across his face. Knocking him over, making him spit blood from where his horrible too blunt teeth cut his tongue. Cor still snarled through the blood as the man went to pick him up again, that was till his husband commanded him to stop, forcing him to allow himself to be carried by the man, all the way up to a large towering building past the sand dunes Cor had never crossed, without protest.

He stared intently at his pelt so casually thrown over his husband's shoulder ahead of them.

  
As they entered the building, one of the uniformed men broke off from the group to hand a man behind a counter a stack of green paper that the man promptly pocketed, casting an uneasy eye at Cor's bundled form. Cor hid his face down into the blanket and partially into the man holding his chest in an attempt to shield his sensitive eyes from the bright unnatural lights that lit the room, not to mention the stares.

He suppressed the desire to bare his teeth

The lights and humans were not the worst part of this building though.

  
They entered a shaky metal box and Cor momentarily froze as it started to move, he hated this. At one point he tried to throw himself out of the hands clutching him, tried to just get out, but he only succeeded in making the grasp on him tighter. Cor fought against the hands for only a few seconds before the bone deep exhaustion set in far too quick, making him just defeatedly lay there, panting heavily and shaking, all too aware of the bright amusement in the uniformed men around him eyes.

  
He felt the happiest he had been in the last hour as they finally left that box, now carried into a large room with two beds, the rest of the uniformed men left, leaving just his husband and the man carrying him, who put him down onto the carpeted floor.

  
Taking the opportunity, Cor placed himself as far away from the humans as he could, putting distance from them above keeping sight of his pelt in importance, growling softly as he heard the men laugh at how he stumbled out onto a balcony that looked back over to the sea. For a brief moment as he looked down at the drop over the metal railings he pondered on whether he could make the drop. His husband hadn’t hidden his pelt yet, instead, from his last check it hung on the back of a chair, if he could grab it and jump he may be able to make it back to the sea before they caught up. But there was a chance he wouldn’t make it. He didn’t want to die. Though the idea of trying it anyway became stronger in his mind as he sat and tried to steer his thoughts to anything but his husband. His husband who, for now anyway, was notably absent, he realised sneaking a look back into the room and only seeing the huge man sat on a bed.

  
Cor closed his eyes and inhaled the sea breeze that drifted over him, tickling the short fur that unnaturally now only grew on the scalp of his head now. He didn’t know how long he sat there, time seemed to blend.

  
He wanted to go home.

  
He pressed the heel of his hands into his eyes in an attempt to stop the water that was now leaking. He was Not. Going. To. Cry.

  
He could still go home provided he gets his pelt back, he still has a chance of getting back to mama and the pod. He let out a high whine to no-one in particular. If he had been with his pod it would have had him swarmed by worried caring adults in seconds, here it brought the person he least wanted to see.

  
A chuckle behind him startled him from his thoughts. He looked up to see his husband standing there, backed by the large man who carried Cor here.

  
The pair stared at each other in silence for some moments, Cor with a brave attempt of a scowl, and the man with the sick smile of a winner.

  
"What do you want?" Cor spat out as he lost his nerve, wincing internally at the way his voice broke. He hated as they moved closer to him, intruding on what he had viewed as safe from them for some reason.

  
The man tilted his head.

  
"Oh dear child, though I suppose 'pup' is more accurate where you're concerned?" Cor's lip curled but the man continued without a care at the sharp teeth bared at him, "there are many things I want, though only a few are from you. Firstly though, what I want is a name, yours if you would"   
  


Cor tried to keep silent out of spite, but his body lurched at the command.

  
"Cor." he spat and the man hummed approvingly

“Nothing more?” he asked, and Cor shook his head.

  
"Suitable enough." He cocked his head and sat in a chair the large man had brought over before continuing, "mine is Mors Lucis Caelum, I imagine that means less to you than it rightly should, no matter.You will address me as 'Your Majesty' or 'Sir' or something else depending on our position and how you have been informed. You shall only refer to me as  _ Mors _ when you have been directed to by myself. This is Sophus Amicitia," he gestured to the large man, "you shall address him as 'Sir'. Those are the rules  _ Cor _ , if you know what's good for you then you shall follow them. Are we clear?" 

  
Cor tried to look strong, but shrunk back under Mors heavy stare.

  
"Yes Sir." He confirmed and Mors smiled

  
"Good. Now, just a few more things-"

  
The evening continued like that, Mors asked questions, and Cor had to answer;

  
_How old are you?_ **11 summers**

  
_Did you have family?_ **Yes, I have a family**

_ Will they come after you?  _ **Of course**   


_Can you hunt?_ **Yes **  


_ Do you hate me?  _ **Yes.**

His husband had smiled at that last one.

  
The questions only came to an end as one of the uniformed men brought in food to the room, giving it to Mors first, then Sophus, with a bow. He gave Cor nothing.

  
Cor stared at the bowl of food that Mors leisurely ate from, it hadn't been till the waft of scent had met his nose that he realised it, but he was hungry. He didn't recognise the food, it didn't look like any fish or clams he had ever eaten, but that didn't stop his stomach cramping and his mouth watering as he watched Mors eat from the floor.

  
After a few minutes of this, Mors held out a long stip of the meat to Cor, tutting and pulling it back when Cor went to use his hands, only allowing Cor to take it with his mouth.

  
If there had been more time between Cor taking the food and throwing it up down the side of the balcony, Mors may have taken the opportunity to mutter a degrading 'good boy", but Cor had thrown up almost immediately, his throat, let alone his stomach, rejecting whatever the fish was he had been fed.

  
Mors nose wrinkled in disgust as he waved at Sophus to deal with a now dry heaving Cor.

  
"I suppose we may need time to adjust your palate. Though it was only chicken, I'm surprised you couldn't keep it down" Mors mused as Cor regained control of his gag reflex, shaking off Sophus from where the man had held him and rubbed his back as he vomited with a show of teeth. "No matter. Now, I believe it is time for bed, yes? Once you are sufficiently clean of course"

  
Cor watched Mors make his way back into the room, his mouth still tasted horrible from the vomit. 

He hated how, yet again, something in his chest lurched to follow the command. A command he didn't know how to fulfil.

"How?" He spat out after a few moments of wrestling with himself.

Mors turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, Cor didn't know what he was looking for, but with a sigh his Husband turned to Sophus.

"Help him would you?"

Sophus pulled him up by the arm and forcefully escorted him back into the room, locking the door onto the balcony as they entered, trapping Cor within the confines. He marched him past a smirking Mors and through the only door Cor hadn't been through yet.

It led to a tiled room with a white seat type thing, a bowl, and a glass box. He let go of Cor and let the boy slump against the wall.

Cor caught a reflection of himself in a glass square on the wall and tried not to balk at the sight. He was small and slight, obviously a child, his skin was fairly light and baby fat clung to his face despite the rest of his build, ice blue eyes stared back as he took in the light brown fuzz that covered the top of his hair, a heavy purple mark marred his cheek and throbbed.

"Alright," Sophus sighed, breaking Cor's attention from his reflection, "do you know what any of this is?" He gestured to the room

Cor shook his head.

The man rubbed his brow.

"Okay,  _ thanks you royal twat. _ " He muttered before looking back to Cor with a heavy frown, "okay, let's do this then-"

Sophus explained through the objects in the room, emplaining their name and what they were used for, finishing with the  _ shower _ , before ordering Cor to step into it.

Cor clutched the blanket tighter and went to step in before the man suddenly grabbed the blanket from him leaving him bare. He snarled and Sophus looked down on him disapprovingly.

"You don't take,” he looked at the blanket, “ _ fabrics _ into the shower"

Cor bared his teeth once more at the man and stepped in, not anxious to repeat being hit.

Nothing happened.

He stared at Sophus trying to communicate his confusion without speaking. Then Sophus reached over him and turned a metal circle, and water poured down, drenching him. 

He hissed and snarled.  _ This was horrible, water was not meant to feel like  _ ** _this. _ ** _ It was wrong, hot and heavy and not at all salty. _ Sophus stopped him before he could run out of the spray. The man wrestled him back into the shower, stepping in after him, drenching himself and his clothes. Cor stared at him anger that was most likely dangerous for him to express, the man's brute strength clearly could and would be used to control Cor whenever needed.

" _ You don't take fabrics in the shower _ " he repeated petulantly at Sophus whose clothes now hung heavy.

The man’s lip curled strangely at that.

"I'm going to wash your hair. Step this way" he said, grabbing a plastic bottle and squirting something strong smelling out of it, Cor wrinkled his nose but did as asked, knowing if he didn't, Mors would find out, and Sophus would make him do it anyway.

Sophus deposited it into the fur Cor had on his head and Cor growled as he started to rub at it.

"Close your eyes" the man ordered, and, just because he could, Cor didn't obey. Only to regret it as something foamy hit his eye and  _ burned _ . "And that's why we close our eyes" Sophus said, amusement clear in his tone.

Cor scowled at him.

"Back under the water" Sophus pushed him back into the spray not waiting for Cor to move on his own.

He only made him stay under it for a little while before turning it off with the same metal disk he turned it on with. Then, making Cor step out, he started rubbing over him roughly with a fluffy white blanket, he rubbed it hard over Cor's head and Cor bit back a groan from dizziness. Once the man felt he had finished, he threw the blanket into a woven basket before stepping back to examine him.

" _ That will do _ ." He seemed to say only to himself before he looked up at Cor, "His Majesty wants you in bed."

_ Oh. _

_ This is it _ , his brain supplied,  _ you knew this was coming _ , and he had, to an extent. He had heard stories of what humans did with their selkie wives, he knew what sex was, or at least he did in its most basic explanation.

  
He knew this was coming, or should have at least, and he was terrified.

  
He was shaking more from fear than exertion as Sophus pulled him by the wrist and forcefully escorted him back into the room realising he wasn’t moving on his own, locking the bathroom door as they left it, trapping Cor. Mors sat over the other side of the room watching with interest. Cor should have realised the pelt was gone in that moment, but all his head could process was what was coming. Sophus dragged Cor, whose legs refused to work, to one of the beds, pushing him under the covers with a growl to  _ stay _ . Cor watched with growing panic as Sophus left with a nod to Mors. Mors stood silently and stripped of his shirt.

_ He wanted to go back to the horrible shower, anything to avoid this. _

  
His husband's body was all lean muscle, scars marring skin in places, a fresh one over where Cor had mauled him earlier, the potion he took not completely removing the evidence.   
  


Cor breathed in sharply, he could do this. The phrase repeated in his head like a mantra,  _ he could do this, he could do this, he could do this _ , Mors stripped off his trousers and pants, leaving him naked and bare in the dim lights.  _ He couldn't do this _ .   
  


He began to cry, breathing turning to near hyperventilating as Mors approached the bed and climbed in next to him. Mors hushed the involuntary whines Cor made and stroked gentle fingers down his spine, leaning over him and kissing him softly on the crown of his head-

  
"Goodnight Pup"

  
And with that Mors rolled over and went to sleep.

  
Cor didn't move. Even when Mors breathing turned heavy with deep sleep.

  
What had just happened?

  
He felt... stupid. He'd worked himself to a near panic attack over nothing. Mors hadn't done anything to him, if anything all he did was try to soothe him. Still, he didn't dare move from fear Mors would wake up and decide to actually do something. He just lay their awake all through the night, not even reacting when Sophus returned other than to blink at him with eyes that glowed in the light.

  
Sophus simply nodded at him, peeled his shirt off and got into the spare bed. Letting out a gruff  _ good night _ as he laid down.

Cor didn't sleep.

He listened as both men began to breathe heavier, Sophus eliciting a deep rumble every other breath. But above that everything seemed silent in the room, Cor could hear the sea now.

The sea was never silent, it was a living entity in itself, rolling and rumbling and hissing with each pulse of its soul. Even without that it rumbled with the noises of those that lived in it. Whale's bellows, dolphins squeals, the ripples of noise from fast moving fish,  _ the songs of Selkie's _ . He choked back a sob.

_ He wanted to go home. _

It was only then that he dazedly realised his husband hadn't ordered him to stay. Hadn't ordered him to stay in the room or bed. 

_ He could leave. _

_ His pelt, he could get his pelt. _

The thought gripped him like nothing had before. Slowly and silently he got out of the bed making sure his  _ husband _ wouldn't know. He snuck across the room to the chair he had last seen his pelt laid across, silently begging his useless legs not to let him fall. Cor had to get away, he had to get away from his husband.

He reached for the chair and grabbed.

There was nothing.

Nothing.

Cor felt a desperate need to scream,  _ no, where had they moved it? where had they hid it? he needed it, he needed- _

Mors stirred.

_ He needed to get away from his husband. _

Cor forgot his pelt in that moment and was filled with a desperate need to just run.

He stumbled to the door and fiddled desperately until it swung out into the corridor, stumbling out into and into the metal box, he shook as it rumbled down and bolted out the moment the doors opened, brushing past a yelling woman who he snarled and snapped at, he caught something of hers in his mouth and tore, but he didn't stop his desperation, spitting out whatever he had just bitten and running. He recognised the glass doors just the other side of this large room, saw the outside through them, ignoring the building chorus of yells around him he ran for them, only falling once and not stopping to acknowledge the screaming pain from his knee.

Even once through the doors, he didn't stop till the cricks of the bugs was louder than the noise of people. He let his legs give out then, like they so desperately wanted to, falling into the far side of the sand dune.

_ He was out _ . His chest wheezed.  _ He was  _ ** _out._ **

A familiar song reached his ears and almost on instinct he crawled towards it, towards the sea. His family, he could hear them crying for him, hear them yelling his name and singing for him.

_ Come home little one, where have you gone? It is time for sleep not exploring and play!  _ They cried.  _ Cor, come back to your pod Cor. The night is here, come back, come home. _ The fact he could hear them meant they were most likely near the rockpools and the coves he loved to swim in, loved to go off and explore even when alone as the other pups got too scared to swim that close to shore. 

They didn't know.  _ Oh Leviathan they don't know. _

He crawled till the wash of the sea on the shore ran around his knees. All it made him feel was hollow and wrong, instead of feeling the pull of the sea instead he felt yanked back to the land, back to his  _ husband _ .

_ Come home _

His family sang again and Cor wanted to cry.

_ I can't,  _ he wanted to sing, wanted to yell back,  _ I can't he won't let me go. _

** _Cor_ ** , they sang even louder, it sounded like a scream in his ears,  ** _Cor where have you gone?_ **

Cor gasped on desperate sobs wracking his body.

" _ I'm sorry _ ," he whispered to the sea and all in it, "I'm so sorry"

He shouldn't have swam so close to shore, he shouldn't have let humans see him, he should have fought  _ harder _ .

He couldn't go home, and it was all his fault.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse for Cor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay... so to clarify the wait was not meant to be this long I just had loads going on and then this chapter proceeded to tye be in a burlap sack and throw me around like a rugby ball. I'm sorry :p  
Also while I've read this so many times in editing I'm sure there's gonna be some mistake I will only notice once I post so cry with me if you find one :(
> 
> Anyway. enjoy this chapter!

Cor stayed whimpering and crying on the shore through the night, and still after the sun rose, bringing needed heat to the shivering naked boy so he was just cold rather than freezing. He didn't know how long he sat there in the sun before he heard the unrushed crunch of boots along the sand. He didn't have to turn to know who it was, he hid his face into his knees.

"Found you." His husbands’ voice crooned behind him.

Cor didn't have the energy to snarl back.

"The silence doesn't suit you, you know." 

Cor shut his eyes as if that would take him anywhere but here. 

"Sophus was in a panic this morning when we discovered your absence, even when I explained that it wasn't exactly like you were going to go anywhere now, was it?"

The silence Cor graced him with seemed to irritate Mors to some extent.

"... did it hurt hearing them and knowing you couldn't sing back?"

That earned a slightly hysterical snarl as Cor snapped round to face him. 

Mors just smiled.

"I'll take that as a yes. Though you really do need to work on using your words."

Cor growled again before burying his head into his knees.

"Will you stop sulking? It's unbecoming." Mors sighed before his tone grew sharper, "get up and follow me. You've already made us late." He spun and walked away back up the beach. Cor didn't even try to fight the now-familiar yank in his chest and got up, trailing after Mors.

He couldn’t deny that through the night the need to keep up a constant front of aggression had left him, it all felt pointless now. That constant fight had died around the time his pod stopped singing for him and retreated back out to deeper waters. He just tried to keep the energy for when he felt it truly necessary.

The man said nothing the whole walk and Cor said nothing back, didn't even make a bitter comment about the man's obvious growing limp as they got closer to the building he had run from the night before.

Sophus saw their approach and strode out to meet them, Cor imagined he wanted to run but chose not to, given the speed of his approach.

"For fuck’s sake Mors you can't just wander off like that!" He hissed to Mors' uncaring face.

"Just retrieving my investment Sophus. I did tell you I'd find the pup did I not? He wasn't going to go anywhere without his pelt" Mors patted the man on the shoulder as he brushed past him and Cor didn't try to hide the flinch at the mention of his missing part, at the reminder of the hollowness he always felt without it.

Sophus focused on Cor and Cor fought the desire to shrink as the man frowned at him. Avoided flinching as the man swung his arm back, only for Sophus to give him a large jacket.

"Put that on, you're going to get cold"

He turned to follow Mors, leaving Cor with the coat. Cor stared after the man with bewilderment before doing as he was told, wincing as his bare feet moved from softer ground to the gravel stone surrounding the hotel. The jacket reached down to his knees and he held it tight in front of himself, partially for warmth and partially for the comfort of an excuse to hug himself. He hated how cold he got without his fur, his body clenched and shaking, he couldn't deny that the clothing the humans were forced to use in place of a useful pelt did keep you warm.

" _ Pup.  _ If you wouldn't mind joining us inside" his husband called with a warning in his tone, and Cor quickly moved to follow him, ignoring the looks from the uniformed men surrounding them. Cor would tear their throats out one day, he promised himself that.

As he moved into the lobby, it was surprisingly busy compared to before, but he didn’t have time to think why before a high shrieking noise had him flinching back.

"That's him! That's the  _ thing  _ that attacked me!" a woman squealed, pointing at him with her hand which wasn't wrapped in a bandage.

The gathered crowd of humans suddenly seemed more hostile, some started whispering to each other and shouting, several taking steps towards him. Cor backed up till he was about to hit the wall of uniformed bodies behind him, lips curling in threat.

Sophus stepped between the approachers and Cor with his arm held out defensively.

"I wouldn't do that" he growled

"Get outta the way, that thing bit half my wife's fucking finger off!" a tall and stocky man said stalking closer, already reaching for the sword on his belt, his tone carried an equal promise of violence.

The hum of the room grew louder.

Sophus eyed the man and flexed his hand, Cor could see a spark of blue crystals building in his palm as the other man grew closer yet.

" _ Gentlemen, stop. _ " his husbands’ voice filled the room, despite sounding like he barely raised it. It was a clear order, and everyone in the room followed it. Even the woman who was still wailing and crying over her hand.

Their eyes trailed after him as he stepped into sight of them all, walking closer to the woman.

"I understand your anger, and I do not wish to stop your justice, as it is deserved after my pet's actions last night." 

With a nod of his head, he reached for the woman's hand, and she let him take it, face startled. He unravelled the bandage only to hold the bloodied hand, humming as he examined it, he held out a hand and summoned a flask into it with a flash of blue light, it wasn't a magic Cor knew but he knew magic, then breaking it over the bloodied stump, she pulled back her hand with a gasp, and those near enough could see the now healed stump where Cor had tore off part of the woman's finger with his teeth.

"Thank you!” the woman bowed hastily, which seemed to trigger a similar reaction from all in the room except Cor and Sophus, “your majesty, truly-”

"It is no issue," Mors said with a kindness Cor had not seen once in his time with the man.

"I- your Majesty, I mean no offence but we can't just let the boy get away with  _ that, _ " the husband of the woman, who had just been preparing to fight Sophus, said hesitantly, "it wouldn't be right!"

Mors turned to study the man, looking him up and down.

"You are correct. This behaviour cannot go without  _ punishment, _ " Mors’ eyes met Cor’s, who fought the need to cower, "I was planning on punishing him in the privacy of my room, but I suppose with what has happened and what he has done… Well. I can not allow him to harm crown citizen's without consequence, and you deserve to see what he will suffer out of justice for doing so." It was now Mors turned to Sophus. "Take him back outside." Sophus didn't hesitate to grab Cor and start pulling him back the way they came, "If you would please follow us." 

Cor was dragged out and thrown down, wincing as his soft skin tore on the gravel. He looked anxiously back at Sophus, whose face was blank.

"Take off the jacket" he commanded and Cor obeyed without being forced to. He bore his teeth again at the gathering humans around him, they made shocked noises, now close enough to see his too sharp canines, and Cor felt an odd sense of happiness at their fear until his gaze fell on his husband.

Mors looked furious.

All Cor’s instincts couldn’t help but scream at the danger of that.

Sophus moved him till he was kneeling in a way with his weight back on his heels and his hands pressed against the ground. He then moved out of sight behind Cor, and a strange dread began to build in his stomach.

"Sophus, the nine-tails if you will. Pup, don't move." Mors ordered with no emotion, before moving away, back to where the crowd stood.

Cor felt the pull of the command but didn't understand the need for it. That was until something cracked hard against his back, he successfully bit back a scream despite the surprise.

Cor didn't want to scream.

He didn't want them to know how it hurt, how much he wanted to break away from that command of Mors, to get away from the  _ pain. _ He wanted to be  _ brave _ . But the 'nine-tails' struck again, tore at his back over the already broken skin, and he couldn't hold it back any more.

It only took three strikes.

The scream was yanked from his lungs, raw and true, and the blows didn't stop. 

Cor wasn't even aware of what was around him anymore, just the pain and how he  _ couldn't escape _ . He wanted to curl away from it, to run away from it, but his arms and knees were locked in place,  _ the blows kept coming _ . 

He didn't know how many times he had been hit, how long he had kneeled with the ninetails biting his back, but once it had stopped it took him a few moments to realise the only pain was old and not fresh. Sophus had been called off by Mors, and every part of Cor felt horrible, this throat felt torn, his back and sides stung and ached, his eyes stung from crying, the pain enveloped his entire body and he fought the urge to throw up.

"You can move now." Mors said, voice too soft and benevolent to be fair.

The release was like a trigger, Cors body gave out and he landed in a slump on the floor, sobbing so hard he could only breath in pants, too tired to do much else. He squeezed his eyes shut as he heard muttered appraisals for Mors' actions rattle throughout the onlookers

Stone crunched behind him to the now too familiar tune of Sophus boots. They stopped by his head and he opened his eyes to look up. Same blank face.

He was so delirious with the pain he missed how Mors was leading the woman he bit the finger off over to him until they were right beside him.

"It's alright my dear, he won't hurt you again, he won't hurt any of my crown citizens again. I shall make sure of it," Mors said sweetly, though Cor did not feel the pull that would have made that promise true. He looked up at the woman, she flinched back once she caught his eye.

"Your Majesty, you are awfully brave to be keeping a beast such as that" she cooed to Cor's husband, leaning heavily into Mors’ side.

"Not at all my dear, once they are tame they are harmless as anything. I am just sorry you met this one before I had a chance to tame it."

"Oh, it's no worry! It’s not as though you set it on us!"

"Yes, quite." Mors looked down at Cor, "Cor, would you please apologise to this lady for the harm you have done to her"

Cor starred up dazed and Mors sighed.

"I do try do this painlessly you see," he said to the woman before, " _ Lord Amicitia" _

_ Lord Amicitia?  _

Cor screamed as Sophus heel ground down into his hand, he could feel the bones almost shifting around the heavy boot, being shoved hard against the gravel by such heavy pressure. He felt something give and he shrieked even louder.

Mors and the woman stood above him staring down like a horrific vigil. 

_ What did they want? _ Cor wracked his brain which seemed to have turned to rubbish. He just wanted the pain to stop, for this all to be  _ over _ . He didn't even care that he was crying now, that he was screaming and yowling.  _ Mors had said… what did he say? _

The boot pressed down harder and Cor didn't even know what noise he made was.

He blinked up at Mors through sobs,  _ what do you want? _ He wanted to scream,  _ what did he want? _

"Apologise" Sophus gruff voice broke into Cor's head and he looked up at the man.

He stared intently down at him as he crushed Cor's hand.

" _ Apologise _ " he said again

It took Cor a few moments to remember how to form words.

"I'm sorry" he choked through sobs, forcing the word out instead of screams, looking to Mors, not truly knowing what the apology was for, "I'm  _ sorry _ "

Mors stared down at him for a horrible second, where Cor thought it wouldn't be enough, that he would still be  _ hurt _ , and then he waved his hand casually, turning his back as Sophus lifted his boot. 

Cor pulled his broken and bleeding hand into his chest and cradled it, curling around himself like that could stop them from doing what they wanted.

He couldn't make out the words being spoken between the Mors, Sophus, and the crowd,  _ who had stood and watched and not done a thing,  _ ( but what could you expect from humans, who almost only ever meant hurt to a selkie?) over the loudness of his breathing and his heartbeat, which seemed to now pound in his head. It wasn't for a good few minutes after something heavy and warm was laid over him that he realised he had been left alone out on the gravel. Well, alone except for a couple of uniformed men standing at a distance, close enough to grab him if he summoned the energy to try and run again. He allowed a high keening noise that was more a Selkie than a boy to rise in his throat.

_ His family, the pod, they’d have to come up on shore soon right? They’d have to realise Cor was no longer in the water soon. _

_ He just wanted to go home, wanted his mum, he wanted to get away from these humans, from his husband. _

Cor… Cor didn’t understand. 

He didn’t understand what they wanted from him, why none of them seemed to act in a way he understood.

The world blurred around him, his chest ached and everything seemed to emit a buzz.

The only two people he knew in this world kept hurting him, Mors giving an order and Sophus being the teeth. Mors was consistently awful and ordered him hurt and confused him, mocking him when he already felt defeated. Sophus… he had hit him, and just  _ beat him and crushed his hand _ , but he also gave Cor things to keep him warm, and he had stood between Cor and the man who wanted to kill him, he had told him how to make the pain stop and explained when Cor was confused. No threat in one moment and a thing to hide from in the next. 

Cor hated him. Hated him more then he hated Mors who had cut his pelt from him, who had trapped him here. At Least Cor knew what to expect from Mors, at least Mors had never pretended niceties and then hurt him the second someone commanded it of him.

At least Mors had never tried to make any of this  _ good _ .

Sophus acted as though he cared, but could easily become just another attacker. Cor wondered on his devotion to Mors, as far as he knew there was no reason for it, Sophus did not seem bound here like Cor, in fact, he seemed content to do whatever Mors asked. It was all too confusing.

He would have bet that it was Sophus who had laid the blanket over him, keeping him warm. As if he had not done this to him, as if he hadn’t beat down over and over on Cor’s back because Mors had ordered it done, as if Cor’s hand wasn’t swollen and ruined because he had crushed it under his boot because Cor hadn’t known what they wanted from him. As if he wasn’t the reason Cor was cold and alone on the floor.

At least all the other humans just ignored him or thought he was a monster, and yes he had hurt that woman he supposed, but he had been scared and running and her hand had been there like she was about to grab him so… he reacted. What else could he have done but try to eliminate a threat?

Cor jolted as someone touched him, shaking him from his mind.

"Cor, we're leaving," Sophus said, whose voice was  _ soft  _ and his face was  _ kind _ , Cor wondered how the man could change so quickly, "get up"

The fear of further punishment was enough to make Cor move without fuss.

Or well, Cor tried. He did truly try to stand. But the moment he tried to get his legs under him his body screamed in protest. He couldn't stop the yelp leaving him as he fell back to the ground.

Sophus was there in an instant and Cor flinched, ready for more pain as punishment for the failed action, but the man just hushed him.

"Okay, it's okay. If you can't, you can't," Cor panted as the man tried to soothe him, "I'm going to carry you."

Cor tried not to cry out as the man's arms wrapped around him and lifted him, pressing inevitability against the painful welts covering his back.

He whimpered, feeling a fit of deep anger as Sophus dared to look worried, as though he hadn't done this to him.

Cor wanted to cry suddenly, but his eyes still stung and his head hurt from sobbing earlier and he stopped himself. He was so tired. He just wanted them to leave him alone and let him sleep. To stop confusing him all the time.

He was laid down against the seats of a car and shivered.

“Can he have curatives at least? I doubt it’ll diminish the lesson” Sophus said above him, not to Cor.

“Enough that he is no longer broken, but few enough that the pain still reminds him,” Mors responded, and Cor belatedly realised his husband sat in front of him, blocked mostly by the back of his chair from view except for some whisps of black hair.

Sophus nodded at that and pulled out a few vials of red liquid. He moved to smash them on Cor, and Cor attempted to whine, hiss, snarl,  _ anything _ his voice box could produce right now in protest. But nothing came out except a whistle.

They broke along his back and over his head, a few seconds in between each administration and Cor couldn’t help the shiver of relief as some of the pain subsided till the screaming of his body subsided into continuous aches. Tiredly he looked up to Sophus who leaned over him, the man gave a soft smile and pushed a hand through Cor’s hair.

Cor leaned into the touch, craving some contact that didn’t hurt, only to flinch suddenly, remembering the pain that the man had brought before, but Sophus didn’t move the hand away.

“You will be fine,” the man’s thumb brushed over Cor’s brow, “it’s over now”

Cor’s skin crawled as Sophus drew his hand away. 

“This is a rather pleasant hotel given where it is, just at the edge of the wall, too far from Galdin for it to have much influence, not close enough to Lestralleum to have overflow from there,” Mors’ voice shook him from the strange scene he and Sophus were participating in, “do you not agree? Sophus?”.

There was a pause and Cors strained ears could pick up on the ocean. The chairs ahead of him rustled as someone shifted in their seat.

“I suppose it’s meant as something of a recluse retreat your Majesty.”

“I imagine the wall, as weak as it is here on this coast, isn’t unknown for allowing the odd demon through”

Sophus hummed.

“... such a shame the incident this area will suffer this afternoon, harming his establishment and all in locality.”

“Yes, truly distressing,” Mors’ voice gave as little emotion as Sophus had, and Cor was lost and confused to the meaning of it all. 

“I’ll give the order then. Immediate or later?”   
  


“Word of my acquisition cannot be allowed to spread Sophus. The sooner these loose ends are tied up the better don’t you agree? We’ve already left this too long. Contact the department, they'll channel an appropriate story.”

“I’ll see it done” a door creaked and the car shifted as a weight left it.

Cor couldn’t help but groan as the shift stirred pain that had become dull enough to be forgettable.

The chair in front of him creaked and he stared up into the sharp blue eyes of his husband, now leaning round to look at him as if he’d only just remembered he was there. One of Mors’ boney hands settled on his hip, finger tapping lightly, giving Cor a view of the scar he was responsible for along Mors’ wrist.

“I hope you understand how much trouble you’ve caused me. I’ll be very disappointed if you’re yet another failure after this.”

Cor knew enough to know he wasn’t actually being spoken to, rather listening to the man’s musings. Cor winced as Mors ran a thumb under his eye.

“You have rather striking eyes, did you know?” Cor’s tongue darted over his dry lips, pulling away from Mors, remembering the threat of the bed from last night, the threat of what being a  _ wife _ meant, but the man’s hand simply tightened bruisingly over his hip bone, “I have no need of you for the moment, rest now, and I’ll have use of you later” 

The pull returned, sensing the command, his eyelids suddenly felt incredibly heavy. As if everything had caught up in his body at once, renouncing his only aim to be sleep and relaxing all his muscles, despite the panic that had just shot through him wanting to do anything but.

As he faded out of consciousness he was only partly aware of Sophus returning to the car, stating that the order was given and they were only waiting on the car to be out of sight to begin ‘cleanup’, and then, nothing but the rumble of a motor.

It didn’t even run through his mind how they were moving ever further away from his home and everything he knew before it all went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully, the next chapter will take less time then like... 6 months? \i'm going to try have it up sometime in March, but I'm not promising anything because I'm a disaster with ADHD who hates their own writing :p  
but yeah we're definitely aiming to beat this waiting time
> 
> please leave a comment and kudos to feed your author!

**Author's Note:**

> Updates are not going to be on a set schedule for this due to me being a fairly erratic writer and also having stuff going on that takes up my time and energy so sorry about that :(
> 
> But I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a comment as they make the author get warm fuzzy feelings :D


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